PLYMOUTH – Arctic Cat, the maker of snowmobiles and ATVs, reported increased sales but lower earnings for the first quarter of fiscal year 2015.

The company, with headquarters in Plymouth and manufacturing facilities in Thief River Falls and St. Cloud, reported sales of $143.6 million in the quarter that ended June 30.

That was up from $120.8 million in the same quarter in the last fiscal year, according to a Friday news release.

However, the company's net earnings totaled $3.6 million, compared to $5.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014.

The company cited "the unfavorable Canadian currency exchange" for part of that decline. About 30 percent of Arctic Cat's sales are to Canada.

"Higher sales were not enough to overcome the unfavorable Canadian currency," Arctic Cat Chairman and CEO Chris Twomey said in the news release. The Canadian dollar has been consistently weaker than its U.S. counterpart over the past year and a half.

ATV and side-by-side sales were down 16 percent, totaling $63.8 million in the first quarter. That decrease was planned, Twomey said, to reduce dealer inventories ahead of new models being introduced in September.

Snowmobile sales were up 149 percent to $56.2 million.

Former Arctic Cat CEO Claude Jordan stepped down in June, two weeks after the company reported poor financial results for the fourth quarter of 2014.